When comparing CLink vs VirtualBox w/ any Linux distro + Terminator, the Slant community recommends VirtualBox w/ any Linux distro + Terminator for most people. In the question“What are the best terminal emulators for Windows?”VirtualBox w/ any Linux distro + Terminator is ranked 17th while CLink is ranked 18th. The most important reason people chose VirtualBox w/ any Linux distro + Terminator is:

Pre-installed software in or more of the various stacks includes:-- Oracle Database 11/12-- JDK/Eclipse-- Enterprise Mgr-- MySQL-- WebLogic-- Cloudera, etc.

Pro

Supports modern shells

Whether you prefer zsh, bash, or fish, Linux will support it.

Pro

Isolated from Windows

VirtualBox provides almost total isolation from Windows running underneath it, removing a lot of security issues.

Pro

Free / Libre Software

While the OS underneath it is proprietary and does spy on you or actively violate your freedom, so to speak, you can still have a little piece of mind knowing that VirtualBox (your Linux distro and shell of choice) as well as Terminator are all FOSS.

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Cons

Con

Supports cmd.exe not the successor platform

It's for cmd.exe which was abandoned by Microsoft in the favor of PowerShell. Using PowerShell is more effective than cmd.exe even with CLink, unfortunatelly.

Con

Install a whole operating system for one program

You would need to install the entire Linux distribution just for one single program.

Con

Slightly slower than just running Linux

The Windows + VirtualBox layer introduces some overhead that wouldn't be present if Linux were installed directly on the machine.

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